Doug Wilson hasn’t been shy in using the “R-word” with his San Jose Shark veterans — as in “rebuild.”

So, while the likes of Joe Thornton and Patrick Marleau have no movement clauses, the question becomes: Do they want to stick around for this?

“We are in a phase where the team is being turned over to the younger players, the Coutures, the Pavelskis, the Vlasics,” Wilson said in a phone interview on Sunday. “I talk to all my vets about that. If we are in a rebuild, it might not be in their best interest to stay.

“That’s up to them. It’s their option. But I explain that to all of the vets. I told that to Ryane Clowe and Douglas Murray before I dealt them last season when we already started our rebuild. And I told that (to pending UFA) Dan Boyle before we traded him (to the Islanders).”